SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is Last per Minute, where we serve up hot takes on Comedy Legends and Rising Stars. Every episode features a different guest pretending to be armchair critics with us, Brian and Nick. Sit back, strap in, whatever it is you do when you listen to these things, as we call back to our comedy heroes. Who's our guest today, Brian?

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Thanks, Nick. Yeah, our guest today is Brian Nest. He is uh my good friend. We work out every morning, just about every morning, pretty much Monday through Friday at Iron Tribe Fitness in Franklin. And uh that's at uh 5 a.m. We are the early morning risers there. Uh and so um, so yeah, so Brian has been working out consistently with me for quite some time, and then uh I found out recently that he is a huge stand-up comedy uh fan, loves loves all kinds of, loves to quote jokes and things like me. Uh also I will add this before I let you speak, Brian. He won the Mr. Transformation Award for the gym. So he is uh he's ripped and shredded and uh and is is you know super, super strong. So uh welcome, Brian. Thank you for being here. And why don't you start by um just telling us a little bit about why you chose uh the comedian that we're gonna be doing? Um we're gonna be doing Robin Williams today, one of Robin Williams, and I'll we'll we'll go in more of that, but why don't you start by telling us that?

SPEAKER_04 1:33

All right. Well, thank you for that uh lovely introduction. I don't know, ripped and shredded is the exact words, but you know, some transformation's good uh on that. So uh honestly, I picked Robin Williams just, I mean, there's so many great comedians out there, whether new, old, um, but Robin Williams has always been just a favorite of mine through I obviously first saw him through movies and TV shows like Morkin Mindy as reruns, uh, and then saw some stand-up specials and things like that. It just it always makes me laugh. I mean, I can watch them a hundred times over. They always make me laugh on that one. And I thought it'd just be kind of a a good heavy hitter to to start with.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

Yeah, definitely. I mean he's he's definitely uh changed the landscape of comedy throughout his long career and um did so many different things and in addition to obviously the stand-up. Um, but uh, you know, uh and and so yeah, really, really great. Um we uh we so today we we chose or you chose Brian, uh his special that was done back in 2002 live on Broadway. Uh very intense. Uh and and the reason I say intense is not the not necessarily like the what he's basically saying and what how he's doing it.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

It wasn't intense, Brian. Like it was in the theater. What are you talking about? It's not like they went camping. Good grief.

unknown 3:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Did we watch the same special?

SPEAKER_04 3:04

I'll change. No, it doesn't sound like it. I mean, if he thought it was an intense, and I mean, obviously there's a stage there, some people.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

It's not a circus. That's the one that I watched. Live in Nebraska. Yeah, exactly. Uh sorry. No, so he sorry, no, sorry. The reason I'm saying that is because of the length of it. This the length of the like it's unheard of nowadays, like with Netflix being where it is and all of the uh comedy specials, like it's unheard of to have an hour almost an hour and 40 minutes. And he was non-stop, an hour and 40 minutes. I mean, it's not like I mean he was on the entire time. And uh, and so that's that was the first thing I noticed, like when I, you know, before we even get into any of the content or anything else, first thing I noticed was that when I pulled it up on YouTube, and just so you guys know out there, it's available on YouTube. Um, so uh you can get it for free. But uh an hour and 40 minutes of content is just insane. I mean, it's just like I think Netflix has killed that though, because they're like, hey, we want to we want to tight you know 58 minutes or whatever it is, um, and stuff like that. Oh, a little bit of housekeeping too, I forgot to say, is that uh going back to Iron Tribe is that I'm I'm known at as iron at Iron Tribe as BDC. So because we have two Brians today, Nick, you can call me BDC for this episode only. No, I'm just kidding. You can call me BDC, and then and then Brian, and then Brian will go by Brian, just so that we are uh clear who you're who we're talking to. So um, yeah. So what else? What are your initial thoughts, Brian? Um, about this special. I know you you mentioned to me that you've watched this numerous times. So numerous times.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

Um I I just I just like the the pacing of it. It is it is a solid like hour and 40 minutes, no encore uh on that one, and it does, it just opens up and he starts um on that. And I did I just I I like it. I I do like the pacing of it. Even in like, I mean, you look back at 2002, everybody was running specials at 45 minute sets, yep, give or take on that one. Uh even if you went live in person around that time frame, it it was an opening act, and then you you're talking in probably an hour on that one.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

And it this just I said, I think going back to the the introduction to that, is this my affinity for Robin Williams and what he does uh on that, it just that's the reason that one really enjoyed it. I and I honestly think it's a little nostalgic because I think that was one of the first like comedy specials I saw like that I bought the DVD for and watched, and so that one just kind of has a nice spark for me.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Yeah, I'm and I'll I I think um you know, interesting because like this was back in the day when Comedy Central was just coming up, and they used to have those like Comedy Central, like up and coming comedians would have like a half-hour spot, and it would be like really it'd be a half an hour show with commercials, so they would have like maybe 20, what, 24 minutes of material, 22 minutes of material. The comedy central presents, like yeah, yeah, and it was like that was like up and coming, like a pre-Netflix, of course, you know. Um, so anyway, how about you, Nick? What what do you have as just before we get into the score scoring sheet? What do you have for initial thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Um mania. Yeah. And you know, you you pick on me about the importance uh how I think it's important that when you're speaking and presenting, you have hydration. He had a lot of hydration. Like I think he had like two cases of plastic water bottles on on the table for material. Let's say we can go into that. Uh, but he he definitely drank a lot of water to the point where I'm wondering like, was he on something that was making him say I just like is is there a a non-natural cause to the mania? But of course, we'll we'll probably never know, and I'm not that nosy.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Sure. No, and that's funny, I didn't even I didn't even realize that, but it's so true. He has like this table full of like you know, to 20 water bottles or something, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Well, and I mean to you it sort of reinforces y'all's point that this was a really long set. Like he had a lot of material to cover and a lot of vocal cords to use, like you gotta keep those things uh moist.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

Yeah. And I'm sure on that stage, I don't like it's a Broadway stage, so I'm guessing the lights and everything there weren't necessarily structured for a comedian on there. Yeah, they were structured for plays and musicals where there's transition time, and so I'm guessing that stage is pretty hot.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

Yeah, that's gotta be true. Well, you guys wanna you guys want to get into the uh the score sheet? We can uh we can start. How about how about you? You want to start, Brian, and and talk about the comedic style?

SPEAKER_04 8:26

Um I I can try on that one.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

Um I actually wanna do you want one of us to go first so you can like uh follow our lead? Or yeah, let's have one of you all go first. All right, Nick, you go.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Okay. Uh comedic style, we we have a number of check boxes, and depending on how you look at it, I could see him having just about all the boxes ticked. We've got uh storytelling. I I didn't check it, but one-liners, yeah, um observational, uh physical, very much physical comedy. Um he he even got a little musical in there. Like I wouldn't say it was what it's not what he does, like he doesn't get a guitar and sing for most of us, but he he definitely uh did some parody type songs, um character comedy. Uh he he definitely had some recurring uh some reoccurring racial stereotypes. You know, I I wouldn't say they're characters, they didn't have names or anything, but um yeah, he did he did voices. Yeah, that was sort of a maybe, you know. And for other, I added mania and props, namely the water. Like the water was not only for hydration, it was also a prop.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Yeah, go go ahead, Brian.

SPEAKER_04 9:50

Yeah, I've I kind of I had similar, I had several check marks on that one. Um, I didn't quite mark the physical comedy. Uh now I have notes on that one uh down a little bit later on that one. But yeah, I do have multiple uh I have improv uh on that one, and I can relate back into that one uh a little bit more kind of as we go through that list on on some of the things I know about like that special because I've watched the special of the special.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Oh, got it. Well, this is good. You're gonna have insight because that was quite that was actually one of my questions because I put I checked improv, not to like hijack your, but I checked improv, but I put a question mark next to it because I thought he seems like the kind of comedian that can it can feel like he's improving, but it's very like he he's already sort of pre-planned it out, you know. Um and but you know, now now that you're gonna give us insight, I'm gonna wait for that when we said we can do it now since we're talking about it.

SPEAKER_04 10:46

Yeah, sure. Yeah, what what so what do you got? So initially on that one, so with the type of special that they did and obviously produced uh through the HBO side, um, but the first 10 minutes of that special, it feels a little random, a little chaotic, because he wrote it right before he went on stage. Wow. So he wrote his rewrote his entire first 10 minutes, which is why you have the they have a catch and release program for New York City, because that day they had caught like four fugitives like at a bank robbery or something, and then they just like basically walked away from the police and they got away. Wow. And so he that's what it was the first part. I I know other people watched it like, wow, that feels really chaotic. Because the first 10 minutes, it is, it's because he wrote all of it as right as he was going to stage. Wow. And he told the director, Oh, I'm gonna redo the first 10 minutes and don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Yeah, because yeah, there was a thing where he said, like, that's it's Shakespeare with Tourette's or something like that, or well, or steel balls or Shakespeare with a strap-on. That's it, that's it.

SPEAKER_03 12:00

Um Tourette's a strap-on, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Yeah. And you know how like when you when you open that's supposed to be kind of like a a precursor to what to expect. Like it's sort of like Chekhov's gun where you you you show them what you're gonna the stuff you're gonna play with, the ideas you're gonna play with, right? And like in the whole set, there wasn't really anything about Shakespeare.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

He didn't get Shakespearean or no, I think he was just referencing that he was on Broadway. On Broadway, yeah, yeah, and just moved on past, yeah, that, but yeah, it was the reason that's why I marked improv is just because I do know that side of this special is yeah, the first 10 minutes were basically him just going, Oh, what happened in the news? Oh, really? They had a catch-and-release program. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

When when when you hinted or you indicated that you thought it was improv, the the way I kind of reconciled that in my head real fast was there was a number of flubs. Like I counted as flubs where he like misspoke. And he would have to or he didn't have to, but he improvised sort of a recovery for that. Like he sort of did something to explain how he screwed up without apologizing and getting to where he could move on. And that that showed in the moment comedy, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:27

Yeah, so and I I had I had like the same thing. I had a number of uh number of those boxes checked. I had uh one-liners, observational, improv, physical comedy. Uh, I thought also satirical um somewhat. I didn't check the box, but then looking back on it, I feel like a lot of it is satire. Um, but um, but definitely character comedy, not in the traditional sense, but as you said, like different voices um and and things like that. So what about subject matter?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Well, you different voices, I'd say impressions would fall under other too. Like almost everything he did were just impressions, different characters of you know, different ages or races or genders or you know well, and also some some real people too.

SPEAKER_03 14:18

Like he did some, you know, some voices that were real people, like or famous people, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Famous or politicians, celebrities, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:25

Yep. Well, that's the I mean a little off on the special, but like I know for like Mrs. Doubtfire, at one point in that movie, like he's interviewing with the job agency, and they're like, Do you have any special skills? He's like, I do voices, right? They actually have like a 45-minute cut that they edited out, they edited that scene together. Wow. With just random one, but they it's 45 minutes straight of him just doing voices, random. That's incredible, you know, Elmer Fuds and like everything for 45 minutes straight.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

Yeah. Well, he's a he was a machine, man. I mean, seriously, like just comedy machine. Um, so what about subject matter? Um, Brian, you want to start us there?

SPEAKER_04 15:11

I I'm with you on that. I basically, I mean, he covers quite a bit. I mean, the one you look at that, it you could classify some of his humor as dark humor. Um on that. Uh you have cultural humor. Um there's, you know, not a lot of his personal life on that one.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

Uh I was gonna say, I was gonna talk about that. So, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 15:31

No, that's that's just it's not that's about one of the only ones he really doesn't circle through is he it's his personal life.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Yeah, yeah. And I got I I I I checked this all of the boxes pretty much except for other and personal life, and I thought that was really interesting because I think the kind of person he was is he was sort of a private person in terms of his personal life. And so he all of I mean hit this whole thing was Robin Williams as a character, even though he was doing multiple characters and multiple. This is this was this whole thing was Robin Williams acting as somebody other than Robin Williams, if that makes sense. I mean, he he was Robin Williams, but you know, I I f and I thought I just think it's interesting that you you rarely find a comedian that their material is completely devoid of their personal life. Like at some point they're talking about their wife or their kids or their you know, just because a lot of in fact, the last comedian that we reviewed, it was almost exclusively her her family. She, you know, talked about uh talked about her family, her husband, her kids, all the stories as they were growing up, all the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

She called she called one the dumb one.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

Called one the dumb one and all that, yeah. And it was the the entire set was was you know around that. And so it's interesting that every single box is checked except for personal life for me.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

So and I would have thought about that, like on until I saw like subject matter and watching through it, I was like, oh, actually, there is zero personal life. And then if you yeah, like if I reflect back to other specials of his I've seen, it's like actually I don't know that he touches much on the personal side at all, because I, you know, this his stylistic choice, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I think the reason I took ticked personal life was um towards the end, it seemed and great. It was even then an exaggeration of of probably what he experiences or not, but like what he had to say about Viagra.

SPEAKER_03 17:28

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

Or what he had to show about Viagra.

SPEAKER_03 17:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Uh the colonoscopy, you know, again, exaggerated. Um, although I haven't had one yet, so maybe it's not. And I also haven't had Viagra yet, so maybe maybe not.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

You have to try those out. Let us know, hey, how accurate was this?

SPEAKER_01 17:50

But but then but then there's also um when he's talking about uh or giving oral sex to a woman, or I guess reenacting oral sex to a woman.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Um that seemed to be from experience for him, you know.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Like Yeah, and he talked, he also talked about the everything not working after 50. You know, that's and we're we'll get into the water bottle in uh, you know, in a late a little later.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

But so he got to his health, I guess you could say. Yeah. The health and facing the thing over the hill, but true.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

Yeah, yeah. Um, all right. Let's you let's dive into uh let's dive into our category. So laughs per minute um is one out of ten. Uh in essence, how frequently did the comedian generate laughs? Uh I'll start with this one. I gave I gave him an eight here. Um, I thought there was steady laughs throughout, um, you know, close to frequent strong laughter. Uh I I don't know if we're ever gonna see an almost constant laughter, but uh I'd love to. Um but uh but you know, kept the audience engaged, kept the audience going. Uh certainly like I would say somebody in the audience was laughing most of the time, you know, different people, but yeah. How about you, Brian?

SPEAKER_04 19:08

Uh actually same. I put uh an eight uh on that one is definitely strong laughter, but there are you know valleys that it's like you know, the crowd maybe wasn't laughing, or I wasn't laughing on that. It's like, oh well that didn't quite relate or didn't quite land, but no, I have it as a solid eight on that.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Awesome. Nick?

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Uh one of us is unnecessary because I also gave it an eight. Uh for for me, there were times where I didn't notice laughter, but it had more to do with I'm spending so much time trying to keep up.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

You know, like so it's like laughter was the last thing on my mind because I'm trying to like hear and pay attention to all the content, get some of the jokes because they're a bit dated. And then plus years later. Uh the things that are fresh on their mind aren't fresh on my mind.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

You know, they're definitely we don't have to get too much into that just yet. Um 9-11 references in 2002 were quite strong.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Yeah, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

People don't joke much about 9-11 anymore except to give playful credence or look true credence to conspiracy theories about it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Or make too make jokes about whether it's too soon or not.

SPEAKER_03 20:31

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yeah, I gave it out of too.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Okay. All right, let's talk about the content quality. One out of ten. Um, Brian, you want to start us out there?

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Yeah, uh, on that one, I have him, I kind of put it the content, I have it basically between eight and nine, I just defaulted to nine on that one. There's a lot of content, especially if you kind of time it into when that special took off. Like there was a lot going on. You know, it was post-9-11. You had just off the heels of the Tyson fight, you had Martha Stewart and all of that. And he kind of touched base with a whole bunch of content running through it. And I think he touched for me, he touched base on it in a pretty good manner, like nice quality on each of them, kind of transitioned in into other things as he was moving along.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

Yeah, absolutely. I think I I was gonna say the thing that kept coming to my mind when I was watching this was time capsule. It's like it's so it's such a like there were so many things that he mentioned in here, and we'll get to that when we get to like uh in some other areas, but like so many things that he mentioned that I had forgotten happened. Obviously, there were huge news stories of the day, but um, but I was like, Oh yeah, I forgot that was like that happened, or I forgot that you know that that was around that era or whatever. Um, things like that.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

So um I never knew who Anne Hesh was. was or is to look her up. That was somebody who was mentioned in the in the set.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Yeah, she Ellen J Ellen de Generis's isn't that wasn't that Ellen de Generis' girlfriend?

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Maybe I think that makes sense to the joke.

SPEAKER_04 22:16

I honestly don't remember or don't know if I ever really knew that one.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that she was connected to Ellen DeGeneris in some way at some point. Maybe not at this time, but at some point. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Sure. So maybe a bit heavy on the pop culture.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Well yeah, that's definitely. So I gave uh I gave it a nine also, Brian. And uh I I thought that everything was written obviously unique material and um you know and then we'll we'll get to delivery too which is you know the true and true insane part to me. The delivery of the material is what matters here. And uh I think I think given all of these things delivered by someone else they wouldn't be funny. They wouldn't they just wouldn't resonate. They wouldn't but they were like written by him specifically for him. So anyway.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

I I gave it a nine as well on content quality. What are we doing here?

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Come on guys did we have like a like a little like you know like a thing at the beginning and try to like get together and and fake this or what?

SPEAKER_04 23:24

We tend to the same show like maybe we're truly objective these are these are the numbers that he earned you know I'd say admittedly I was uh the numbers by the end I was like oh okay I I was being objective it's not like 100% best thing like it you know yeah yeah but there were lots of times where I was like okay that was really clever or that's really creative. You know like I was appreciated the art and the craft yeah of what he was talking about almost despite the mania you know in some cases yeah and I would agree it was obviously since it was written by him I think the mania of it would only work for Robin Williams on that is that you know we all marked kind of physical comedy and it's some of the content would not have worked like it works if you just listen to it but watching it watching him do some of the motions you know some of the facial expressions that he puts into into it is what really helps push that content quality which then leads us into the the performance and delivery side of yeah good hey you're you're man you just take over man you you can run this podcast for us yeah I was gonna say that that leads us right into our next thing see we don't have to change the intro we can just say with Brian and Nick right exactly Brian squared equals Nick you know right yeah yeah so you want to continue that you want to continue that Brian and talk a little bit about your score for performance delivery um so my my score on that I gave him a uh an 8.5 on that again it was the it was very engaging uh on that one um he does have a commanding stage presence but for some reason I just didn't hat that 910 mark um I mean it's Robin Williams on stage right he has upstaged people when he didn't intend to uh throughout like throughout his career he'd go to music festivals and there was one music festival was raining and the crowd was getting upset so he just jumped on stage and did like 30 minutes of improv until they could do the concert and then he got off stage and they did the concert. Wow and so like he has a very commanding presence but it was just I understand that like um I know Nick's mentioned that it was kind of chaotic kind of and I know that doesn't always set hit for everybody on that one. I know you know the kind of high speed of it isn't always everybody's pace and enjoyment for that but I so I have an 8.5 for the performance and delivery on that.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

That's awesome. Nick, what about you?

SPEAKER_01 26:15

I gave it a five for a lot of the same reasons Brian gave um that there were a number of times where he was even going too fast for himself and he he made flubs like he he missed out so I think that's partly where I didn't give him a perfect score. And then maybe also without knowing it but like sort of intuiting that chaos at the start that that part of the performance and delivery wasn't quite there.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

And just to be like the I don't know the the I got used to the mania the the the hyperness of it yeah I just forgot that he was like that. You know like so it was a bit of a surprise at first a very high energy and as I get older I'm I gravitate more towards low key.

SPEAKER_03 27:07

It's funny you should say that because like I was I was watching it with and you know my Jen was in the background my wife for the everybody out there she's in the background and she said I think I'm getting old because that's just stressing me out. I'm not laughing it's like stressing me out like it's just so it's too fast and it's like your brain is like on overdrive um especially when you're like it's almost like multifaceted where you're like okay I need to figure out what that pop culture reference was what the joke was and what it's almost like this like you know uh you know like triplicate where you have to like figure three things out and also like get the joke. You know what I mean? And so um you know I still gave him I still gave him a high score though I gave him an eight on this and um well I just think his stage presence like based on what this is how what is his stage presence in delivery it's like you know I said nobody could deliver those jokes that he wrote for himself but but him. You know there and there's that and you can't say that about all comedians. You know some comedians like you could other comedians could tell a joke of the or a version of that joke and it would be just as funny in their own way but you know and uh if people try to if people were to try to do something like this it would just come off as them trying to imitate Robin Williams.

SPEAKER_04 28:28

It wouldn't come off as them telling a joke themselves so um so yeah anyway gave it a few years ago back to like with the Jen seeing it with you a few years ago I like tried to show my wife it and she made it she didn't even make it through the first 10 minutes she goes it's too much it's too chaotic.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

Yeah no it settles in because it's yeah I gave her the whole you know how I know it settles in she goes no I I just can't I'm out yeah all right and I think I think also like the the hard part about this one is going back to the length of this like it's an hour and 40 minutes and it's there are like small lulls there but it's like what he gets going and then he you know sort of jumps to the next thing and jumps to the next thing and jumps to the next thing and and it's uh you know it it can get a little bit um yeah it's it's a it's almost like the first time you watch it or when you haven't watched it for a while it's almost like work a little bit where you're like working to make sure that you're understanding the stuff. And um I'm gonna make a reference Brian doesn't know this but we always we always at least refer to Toastmasters at least once in this uh in our episodes just because we always because we've been doing it for so long and um and one of the things we tell people that are speaking is allow your audience to stay with you. So like allow your audience like if you say something that's that you think is profound or is a strong point then you pause you stop you let the audience catch up with you before you move on and uh and he does he's like no you're going my speed like you that's it it's this is this is the speed we're going so get on the train or get off but I'm not I'm not slowing down for you you know so um but very Robin Williams so very let's let's talk about audience engagement.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Did the comedian connect well with the audience uh who wants to start there I'll go all right Nick four out of five captive the low end of captivating full audience buy-in-yeah we we live in a different politically correct climate now so there were jokes that maybe I appreciated but still felt uncomfortable by yeah whereas everyone else was like fully bought in because they are they're in that time right like it that was part of it. Yeah um and like I said I I appreciated it um but it it was it was sort of like filtered or almost tainted by our own politically correct climate like I couldn't appreciate it as much um my my culture ruined my appreciation of our past culture. Right right but but it went didn't completely ruin like you know it was still yes yeah still still enjoyed it. So four out of five um both from the perspective for myself and what I could sense through the screen of the audience in the the seats.

SPEAKER_03 31:29

Excellent how about you Brian actually I was gonna have let's have you go uh okay and then I'll I'll wrap that section up I um I had I also gave it a four uh and I think yeah I think he connected with the audience and again so I guess probably to piggyback on what you were talking about Nick is just that was it's it's interesting to me like I said being going back to the time capsule references that this is him delivering this material that now looking back on it is uh you know 23 years old and but the audience at the time was in it they were just post9 America you know um a pre a lot of things that we we you know that we have today um and so I think um you know I think that uh they were very engaged in that I also think that at that time in 2002 it was a time in America where we you know people wanted to laugh I mean people were like looking for you know they're like people were worried um and I don't I can't I don't know when this happened in 2002 but um you know but basically you know it was within a year or so of September 11th of course so um yeah so I I actually gave it a five uh on that one and it's I gave it a five because you can hear not just like me watching an audience engagement but in listening to it around it like there is almost constant laughter in that which is great engagement.

SPEAKER_04 33:03

Um and then the the other side that I was I find interesting and this is just again because I was a nerd about this one and I had the DVD and then watched all the special features to it. But the director made a choice on this one like a lot of times comedy specials will when there's a good joke they'll cut to the audience so because the theory like oh if you see somebody laughing you're gonna laugh too. Yeah um and the director of this one actually chose to minimize how much they showed the crowd. Yeah and they were hoping that it would be a you know what it's just gonna be jokes and you're gonna laugh for the joke and not laugh because somebody in the crowd is laughing too.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

And so they have some in like you hit you you can hear the crowd laughing but as far as like cameras directly pointing into the crowd and going at it that's actually the director made that choice to okay I want to minimize how much the crowd you see of the crowd so that way you're just getting kind of the the raw content of the jokes.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

I I like that I think I like that more than cutting to the crowd. It's always it feels distracting to me. Yeah cut to I don't know some table or yeah it's like I can't I can't do that if I was there live right it's it's l it breaks me out of the immersion that I'm in the crowd in the audience you know with with with them.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

Yeah yeah yeah well um did we all did all three of us do that? Yes yeah we did okay four out of five four out of five and five out of five yeah how about diversity of material so did the comedian cover a range of topics I think we we touched on this before um I I'll start I'll start on this I gave it a four I gave him a four out of five on this um I think that he did cover a wide variety of topics uh wide variety of you know references to pop culture wide variety of all kinds of things so you know intermingling political and news and satirical and um and everything else and um you know I think that uh yeah I think it was pretty strong so well I'll go next because I have a bit of a hot take on this one okay hot take here comes yeah I gave a two out of five all right some variety but limited explain and technically yes he covered a variety of topics but his method of covering them was it got old I counted 121 racial impressions I counted 66 impressions yeah those are two separate counts so like 180 plus impressions all told um the racial impressions would include southern um southern accent and impressions would be like women children um anything that was an impression that that wasn't like an ethnic accent so a lot of like American politicians or like I said children or ethnic women uh non non racialized or ethnicized women um so like again I agree you covered a lot of topics like tons I really appreciated Saudi duty and somehow trying to win hearts and minds and what kind of content you create to do so or Gaddafi duck you know like those those were good I like them but it was just kind of like he had one mechanism to yes one um one vehicle by which he could cover all those topics so like we're bouncing around in the same same car all the time and I I don't know if this is the time to cover about it.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

There was a there's a part there are parts that the way he delivered it sounded a lot like George Carlin. Like the way he did like just the perfect downward inflection at the end of something he was saying with a smoker's voice. Like just how Carlin like George Carlin's class of like um is sort of like how he punctuates his sentences you know yeah um Robin William did that about 14 times. That's a generous count. It might have only been nine or ten um so yeah that that's my hot take. Alright and and I wanted to do it before Brian so that he could smooth things over and be like actually Nick that's not very fair. Here's here's the truth.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Yeah. So I I gave him a four and a half out of five um on that one I think because it's the diversity of the material not the uh kind of performance and delivery of the material yeah on that one and so I think the diversity of covering yes uh like as you put you I could see it as you stated like well he had this many but like he was using the same vehicle to get to the destinations on that one so I could see where it'd be like oh yeah a little bit on the diversity of it. Um but I still I the four and a half are just because he was touching on everything from you know politics to 9-11 to sports to what happened that day in the news um you know to medicine to meeting a gorilla um to different things like that and so I would say the diversity of that is a little higher on that and maybe you know the performance and delivery would lose a point or so on that because he's using the same vehicle model for that delivery on that I I think the you know uh I could see where you got there on that one uh but I just think with you know covering and not just like one sport but multiple sports and and different things like that which yeah you know some of the sports in 20 in 2002 are very different than 2026.

SPEAKER_03 39:11

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 39:12

The Lance Armstrong one obviously you would not even go there at this point.

SPEAKER_03 39:17

Uh well I mean you should go to the figure skating though the figure skating was the best one fair sure well I you know what I agree so I'm adding two points to diversity of material but I I'm stealing them from I say just move them performance yeah yeah so he did so his net score didn't go up just just the uh just the score for those two particular but but it's more accurate now it's more accurate to my my take all right let's uh let's move on to impact and memorability uh was this performance was this a performance that sticks with you I think we probably can we can go to Brian last because we might know his answer on this one um um I st I said um I gave it a seven so the lower sort of lower end of strong memorable set um the hard part for this for me was sort of what you were just talking about Nick is that I think if I watched another Robin Williams special uh and he was you know doing this same shtick like the same delivery the same everything I think in my mind all of it would blend together like I would be like oh you know the that I can't remember which one that came from because it's so close in terms of the delivery of the material um and things like that. So I think um I I still think it's I still think it's strong.

SPEAKER_04 40:50

I still think that um you know there's a lot of uh there's a lot of references in there and things like that but I I like I don't know I just um I still gave it like I said a seven out of ten yeah for some reasons I gave it a six out of ten and I what I was doing is I was just skimming the answers and as soon as I landed on some standout moments yeah like that was like that's it that's right so I gave them the highest score within that that bucket yeah um and it I mean for me personally it doesn't feel like a strong memorable set there are definitely some standout moments though right and that's yeah that's where I'm at Brian I would actually say for for you all without the connection that I kind of have built with it on that it is those are all that like you know fair on that like impact memorability because I actually have I have it as an eight but again that I think it's one of the first full length ones I remember watching um on that but then it's and I but I have a note next to my eight that if you saw it it's memorable but then I also have it that it's not as quotable as some of the others because and I would agree on some of his you watch that one then you watch like weapons of self-destruction or things like that like they actually do blend in. So it's there's a few jokes in this one that I knew where they came from on that one um that you know we can kind of look at but it's still one it's like I said memorable for me and eight for me but I would fully understand where everybody else would lie on like well yeah it's off it's this that it's just one that because I liked Robin Williams as an actor and stand up that it holds more memory for me on that.

SPEAKER_03 42:40

Yeah yeah excellent all right the next one use of callbacks so did the effective did the comedian effectively use callbacks Nick you want to start there sure I I counted a few callbacks so I gave him a few points and put some effective callbacks three out of five okay and and after we maybe give our scores we can talk about the callbacks we detected I don't want to steal the show there. I'll uh I'll say I gave I gave him a two um honestly I couldn't I was like struggling to find callbacks in it so maybe you guys can you guys can help me in this discussion to point out some of the ones maybe that I missed.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

I don't think he's really a callback comedian like I mean he's not he's not a heavy long term storyteller like where he's telling long stories where he can have a lot of material to call back to and so um so anyway what about you Brian uh actually I split the difference I'm a 2.5 okay on that one is and I I actually have notes that there's some callbacks but just not I was with you it's very hard to identify yeah uh with some of the callbacks on that so I'll be interested to see Nick where where you're pulling because honestly I was like well is that a call is that a callback maybe that's not maybe that's you know But his his set interactions, some of the interactions with the set.

SPEAKER_03 44:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:03

Um, the giant eye up there, you know, referencing, you know, the uh homeland security, things like that, were callbacks within that section of what he was talking about.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:15

But I have the other note I put next to it as as I was watching and trying to, I was like, I don't, I just was missing that was actually the last one I marked, like hoping by the end, I was like, well, maybe there's a callback later. And there was there there really wasn't, but I have it in there that his transitions just worked well enough that you almost I I don't know that he even thought of the joke as being over because it just all kind of moved forward.

SPEAKER_03 44:41

Yeah. I think it's I think it's hard. I'll say like I'll maybe this is a hot take too, but it goes back to what I was saying. It's a callback to what I was saying before.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

Um if only Robin Williams had your knack for callbacks.

SPEAKER_03 44:54

Exactly. Um, no, I I I think with the layering of his humor, meaning, like I said, in in a in a single joke, you might have to get uh you know a cultural reference or a pop, you know, pop cultural reference. You might have to get uh like understand, like you guys not saying, hey, I don't know who Ann Haish is, right? So you not only have to get like the thing, but you have to like you have to also get the joke. So that's another layer on top of it. And then to add a callback on top of that to something else, then now you're thinking about a separate joke that was previous, and you have these other two layers that are on top of it. I think that that's it's you know, it's like digging deep humor. You know what I mean? It's like trying to like you almost have to, you almost have to be like you, Brian, and watch this like multiple, multiple times to pick up some things. It's like it's like a movie that you you watch the first time and you're like, you know, that was pretty good. And then you watch it the second time, you're like, oh, that was actually pretty good. I didn't notice that the first time, and then the third time you're like, Whoa, this is actually a pretty cool movie, you know. Um I think that's what happens with him with callbacks, you know?

SPEAKER_01 46:01

So yeah, yeah, and and maybe these weren't really callbacks, maybe they were, you know, he he had so much content that he was bound to repeat himself a couple times. Right, right. Yeah, you know, um, or that it's you know, he has his own kind of biases and stereotypes or low material on certain things, and so he just kind of repeats himself a little bit. But um the the things I found was that uh more than once, at least two times, he's he he did the smoking of the cigarette and said, I never loved such and such. Like it was uh yeah, you know, I never loved your father, I never loved I never loved your mother. Um he also made mention that French eat frogs, like he made some kind of reference to the French eating frogs, yeah. Um like how that wouldn't work as an intimidating miracle um of frogs falling from the sky for the French is one of them.

SPEAKER_04 46:53

Yeah, just to kind of um coming out of uh Egypt.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

Yes, yep. Uh let's get ready to and one was Humble, the other was Nibble. So Humble was the two televangelists fighting it out in a after death match.

SPEAKER_04 47:13

Yeah, the life after death, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:15

Life after life after death match, and then ready to nibble was a reference to Mike Tyson.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

And then um Tom early in the set, and this might be the one true callback. Um early in the set he talked about cats, male cats going around uh pissing on things and saying, I own that, I own that. And then at Viagra, in things he's having his well, he's having his orgasm, he's good, everything's going everywhere. He's like, Oh, I own that, I own that.

SPEAKER_04 47:47

And I I would think that would be one of the true callbacks on that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:53

At least in probably intentional.

SPEAKER_04 47:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

Callbacks, yeah. Or semi-intentional. It's all stream of consciousness with him.

SPEAKER_03 48:01

All right. Well, how about style quality? It's uh one out of ten. How effective was the comedian's style? This I think has some some some good uh material that we can talk about. Who wants to start?

SPEAKER_04 48:16

I can start because I'm curious where because I ranked it high. I gave it a nine. Um, and that just because I I actually don't mind the kind of all over the map stylings on that one. Like I do like some of the comedians that like just are straight one-liners the whole way through, uh, or good stories through like that, but uh his kind of random, not random styling. I actually I actually enjoy. And so for me, it was a nine, but I can definitely see where people are like meh, it's a little weak, it's a little soft, it's not quite for me.

SPEAKER_03 48:56

Yeah. I'm I'm with you on that. I've I've got and I didn't even this isn't even really for me a rating that says how whether I liked it or not. It's just whether or not because uh the even that nine out of ten is they have mastered their style for sure, right? So I gave I gave it a nine also. Uh I gave him a nine, and that's just because I mean again, I don't think there's you know, I don't I don't think there's ever been I don't think there was anyone before him that was like him. I don't think there's been anyone after that's like him. You know, there there are some similarities to some comedians, but you know, um, but not very much. And um, you know, yeah. Nick?

SPEAKER_01 49:42

I also gave him a nine out of ten.

SPEAKER_03 49:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

I mean they've mastered this.

SPEAKER_03 49:46

It's ridiculous, guys. It's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 49:49

Some some things I want to point out while I have the mic, though. Some other another thing I counted was the number of times you referenced titties.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

Uh most of them were in the count in the first 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 50:05

Kind of, I think I did, because there were so many other things I was counting by the middle of it that I don't know that I was counting any references after the first half, but but I counted at least 12. I put 12 plus.

SPEAKER_03 50:16

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

Uh and then the F word at I'm probably pretty close. It might be more, but at least 81 times.

SPEAKER_02 50:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:27

And all the variations, right? Right. F'd uh Fing.

SPEAKER_03 50:32

Effer. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:33

F no. Yeah. Yeah. Uh F at all. The drug. Like each time he said F at all, I counted that.

SPEAKER_03 50:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:41

Um even though it's anyway. Um so it when when things repeat that much, like I just kind of take little ticks. It's not necessarily a problem, it's just an observation. Just an observation. Yep. Again, I gave him a nine out of ten on you know, mastering his style.

SPEAKER_03 51:00

All right, you want to you want to do timing and pacing, Nick?

SPEAKER_01 51:03

Yeah, I I gave him a four out of five. Strong, well-timed delivery. There weren't any moments where I felt bored or it seemed like he didn't know what was next.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

Um I might have given him a five out of five if he they weren't really field deposits, but they were kind of like that.

SPEAKER_02 51:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

And and these also played into why he got such a high count on on racial impressions. Because he would his transitions would often be him impersonating a black person saying, God damn, or yeah, baby.

SPEAKER_02 51:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

Or a southern, a southern um phrasing of come on now.

SPEAKER_03 51:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:49

Like you just inject that between jokes. So it was like you never really lost altitude, you know.

SPEAKER_03 51:55

Yeah.

unknown 51:55

Right.

SPEAKER_01 51:56

You know? Yeah, see, I'm doing that.

SPEAKER_03 51:57

That's like that's the uh that's the Larry the Cable guy. I don't care who you are, that's funny. Yeah, that's yeah. After every joke. Yeah, I don't care who you are, that's funny. Um, I gave him four out of five on timing and pacing. Uh, I thought he, yeah, I think it was effective for his humor, his style of humor delivery. Uh, this this is the these are the kind of jokes that I I can't imagine reading a track. I'd love to see what his actual right, like what we wrote. Like you were saying, Brian, that he wrote this before he went out on stage. I want to see what he wrote down. Like, does he write down like okay, insert, you know, uh black person voice, insert this, or do, you know, whatever. Does he like what what what is exactly does it say, you know? And because then that would be go back going back to like, does he improv? Because if it just says like general notes, it's like, yeah, it's all improv then. He's just like, okay, I I think I have a general idea of what I'm gonna be doing here, you know.

SPEAKER_01 52:54

So anyway, um he just he just has a mind map and he plays ping pong between he doesn't actually follow any dots, lines, right, right.

SPEAKER_04 53:08

And I think if I remember right, a lot of his like movie contracts said in there that like um he gets a chance to do his own takes of each scene because he wanted to do one as written and one however he kind of thought it should go, yeah. On that one. Um but I I'm actually with you all on the uh timing and pacing was uh I have a four out of five as well.

SPEAKER_03 53:32

It's awesome. All right, the big one physical comedy. How well did they use physical elements in their comedy? Who wants to start there?

SPEAKER_01 53:43

I can start five out of five. Oh, I'm sorry. No, go for it, Nick. Go for it. I just I just said five out of five.

unknown 53:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

Like, yeah, it's very physical. Yeah. Constant movement, effective use of props and body language and facial expressions, and yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:00

Yeah. Brian? Uh five out of five. Same. It's um, you know, I think I referenced it a little bit earlier, but like the just the you can hear that special, and it's still funny, but yeah watching it, watching his physicality, his you know, his facial expressions, his, you know, putting the condom on and squatting down and things like that just really helps sell the line and push the punchline on it.

SPEAKER_03 54:27

And so five out of five. It's like it's like a Brian Regan, like Brian Regan, you can listen to Brian Regan, but you you get you get the full experience if you watch Brian Regan. Correct.

SPEAKER_04 54:36

Yeah, the facial expressions, everything like it just you just helps just push it that much further over the like yeah. As opposed to like a Mitch Headburn.

SPEAKER_01 54:45

I'm sorry, you've exceeded your Brian reference quota for the podcast episode. We we we can only allow two.

SPEAKER_03 54:52

We can sorry, we're we've said too many Brian's. Man.

SPEAKER_04 54:56

So relatable though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:01

Well, I think we're in the handholding club here because I I gave a five out of five also on physical. I you know, this is I don't I think this is the first perfect score I've given on any category in any of the comedians we've reviewed so far. So um I think I I think it'd be hard to you know, I think it would be hard somebody to compare to him in terms of physical physicality. So five out of five. Um how about relatability? Did the material resonate with a broad audience? I'll I can start on this one. Um I had a hard time with this. I I I think I was somewhere between six and seven, maybe six and a half. Like six and seven. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 55:46

Maybe you gotta use it so we ruin it, so they stop doing it.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

Yeah, you gotta you gotta do it as much as possible so the kids stop doing it. Yeah. Um, yeah, I think somewhat relatable to strong relatability. I think it would be I think it was very relatable in 2002. I think that the hard part is me. It's like I'm I'm accessing the historical part of my brain trying to listen to it as well, uh, as I as I've already mentioned. So um so I gave him six and a half. So how about you, Brian?

SPEAKER_04 56:18

Uh so I actually gave him an eight with an asterisk of relatable at the time. Yes, okay on that one. And as I said, it's it's more relatable because the number of times I've seen it and watched through it and and all of that is, you know, I was I I watched it while some of those references and everything were actually like, you know, Martha Stewart going to jail and and different things like that, where it's like, oh yeah, it's funny. It's um and so I gave it eight out of ten, like I said, though, with a little caveat of kind of the timing of when you watch it.

SPEAKER_03 56:49

Yeah, that's a good call. That's that's exact I think that's exactly where I'm at as well, just different score. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:56

Nick? Well, I I started with a four out of ten for the same reasons y'all said, but then I moved it to an eight out of ten for the same reasons that y'all said.

SPEAKER_03 57:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 57:08

So I doubled my score on that.

SPEAKER_03 57:12

All right. You're gonna have to redo some math. Yeah, exactly. How about innovative techniques? A one out of ten. Um Nick, do you want to start there?

SPEAKER_01 57:24

Yeah, I want to first caveat, if I remember right, this is usually one of my lowest scoring ones. Um I'm I'm just of that opinion that there's nothing new under the sun.

SPEAKER_03 57:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

So for me to give him a six out of ten for some the high end of some fresh ideas is um high praise. You know, he didn't he he invented, he was innovative, but you know, the first two sets, Brian, or oh my gosh. See, this is why we can't have three Brian's mentioned in the same episode. Robin Williams, you know, the first two times Robin Williams did comedy, like he was highly innovative, but he's not it, there's not a lot more in to innovate. He has a style locked in, yeah, and it's now you know, Robin Williams as Robin Williams in Robin Williams. Um, but there were still like a lot of moments where there were you know cleverly connected things that I highly appreciated. So I wanted to give him the above the middle on that.

SPEAKER_04 58:24

Yeah. How about you, Brian? Uh actually, same for the same reasons uh on that. Um, is I actually put him dead center at five. Uh, I didn't quite go high-end on that one. Um, that goes back to I was like, well, I guess I was being objective. Um, but it it was. It was I kind of look at it like, yeah, it was his stylings, but also like it's the same stylings he had at Live in the Met in the 80s, and you know, different things like that. And so the technique, though, is very Robin Williams, like you said, nobody else can do it. It's still, you know, some new, but still a technique scene.

SPEAKER_03 59:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:09

I'm just now seeing the question, Brian. I'm sorry, BDC. Uh, did the comedian bring something new or unique?

SPEAKER_03 59:18

Yeah, I mean, so that's why and that's where I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I went higher than you guys. I went, I actually did a nine out of ten on this, and the reason why is because what I said before is like he was he there, I I many comedians you can like group them into groupings where you can say, like, oh, this guy's sort of like this guy, or there's like, you know, sort of like maybe not exactly, but uh, who else is in his category? Like, literally, watch his stuff. Who else who else does comedy like he did? Uh, I don't I can't think of anyone.

SPEAKER_01 59:51

May maybe carrot top, except not nearly as good, of course. Like theoretically, yeah, and there was stream of consciousness and complete sentences, just different stuff. I mean, yeah, physical uh physicality, but they just it's not as good as Robin Williams.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:05

Yeah, and I think Carrot is good, much narrower, he's much narrower in he doesn't talk about a lot of subject matter. He's got the I mean he's got his he's he's a you know he's a um prop comic prop prop com yeah, exactly, prop comedian. Um and I I mean I guess he dives into some subjects and things like that, but um you know anyway, I I think I I just think admittedly I'm I'm grasping.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:31

Admittedly, I'm grasping.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:32

Yeah, I think I just think I think Robin Williams. I and I don't I don't see somebody else coming out that's similar to him. I said if somebody tried to do this and try to be like this, they would people would be like, oh, he's imitating Robin Williams. They wouldn't say, Oh, he's a you know, he's they they wouldn't say anything else, it's just I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

So I think highly the next Robin Williams, they're just right, right, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:59

And I can see that because yeah, I honestly I missed the unique part of that in the question as well. So I think having having if I had read through that, I definitely would have put that higher because it is a unique styling that anybody doing now would just be copying.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:15

Yeah, yeah. So let's talk about the last one that really this last one doesn't really have to do with the comedy per se, but it more the special itself. So cinematic quality. So how well was the performance filmed and edited? We touched upon this a little earlier. Brian, you want to continue that a little bit um with some of your inside information?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:39

Yeah, so um on that, I actually gave that one a five out of five. Um, I thought it was shot well. I like that they chose not to really engage the audience. And when they did, it was the front row. Yeah. And I don't know if this show they did it, but I do know at some of his other ones is they actually told the venue that they can't sell the front first two rows of the rows touching the stage. They said they had to put cameras there, and what they did is they grabbed people that bought the back row tickets. Oh, wow. And they're like, these people are here, they're here to have a good time. They they want to enjoy, and they moved them up to those rows.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:19

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:20

Several of his um stand-up specials, things like that, is they took the people that bought the absolute worst tickets because they would be the happiest to be there.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:29

Um, because they were there to enjoy and not just somebody paying obscene amount of money to sit front row Robin Williams. These people were there to have a good night. Um, and they moved him up front. And I don't know if that's really if they did that for this one uh with that. But one of the cinematic things I liked about this one is that some of the specials, some comedy specials, they will film for like, okay, you did, you know, Nate did Bridgestone for three nights, right? You're gonna make a special and you're gonna kind of cut those nights together.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:00

With this one, they didn't. So at the end, when he comes out and said, Hey, we did it, they actually filmed this and it was one straight through cup. Like that's why you like drop the water bottle, right? Or he forgot forgot where he was going for a second. He's like, uh, I got it. I know I have it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:20

And that, you know, a lot of oh, we'll just we'll replace that the next night, things like that. And they didn't do that, they just went, we're gonna do it as one one go and call it.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:32

And so I I do like that. So I gave him because of that, and I mean, you know, the camera quality was fantastic, but it's also HBO.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:41

Uh running a comedy special. Um, so because of the the knowledge I had on that, is I did give them a five for that because I I like the styling. I like the hey, if something goes wrong, we're just gonna roll with it and see if you recover.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:55

Yeah. I'm I'm uh I'm almost there. I'm uh I'm at a four um in this. And I I think it's interesting what you were talking about, only engaging really the front rows. And the reason why is because that gives us a uh it gives us the perspective of the comedian. Because basically the comedian, unless the house lights are on, the comedian can only see the first couple rows anyway. And so it's really, really making sure that you're, you know, it doesn't pull you out of it like I think Nick mentioned before, like when they cut to an audience member that's like 17 rows back and they just happen to be laughing. It's like the comedian can't see that. You know, like the the comedian's only seen those first couple of rows. So um, so I think that's a a sort of a cool thing that I um you know that I I sort of thought about when that when you sort of actually right now when you were talking about that. Um, but I think I mean I think I I don't like the way that I wrote the the number four says the filming and editing was not a distraction, which I don't like the way I wrote that. It seems more negative than it is, but but but really honestly, it shouldn't be a distraction. Like if you're if you're taken out, I've I've watched comedy specials where I'm like, I I love the comedy that's happening right now, but it keeps it's so distracting what they keep doing with the editing or the the either long shot to a short shot or to a you know audience shot, whatever. Um and so if I'm taken out of that comedy routine because of the editing, then you know, but so that's why I think this didn't it didn't take me out of the out of the show at all. So how about you, Nick?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:33

I also gave a five out of five.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:35

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:36

Uh I r I really liked the close ups. Like you know, went in close on Robin at the right times. Yeah. Um like when we would need to see it, particularly when he's doing the face and the elbow to reenact something. I'll not I'll I will spare the audience of my explanation.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:57

You can go they can go watch it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

watch it. It's on YouTube. It's on YouTube. It's free on YouTube.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:02

You know?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

The at least it is now. I don't know if it will be. But anyway, um the other thing too is when he talked about when when he was saying that just once he wants a uh soccer slash football announcer to be the announcer for the PGA tour or for a golf game.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

And he he sort of gave an impression of that he reenacted it. And when he when he did ho like the camera just sort of like um flew away from him you know and and it was like he was casting the camera away with his his energy. I just thought that was really cool. And I only noticed that like on the second watch.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:46

Yeah. So there's a lot to keep up to on the first watch.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:50

Yes. Yeah absolutely um okay so let's get to our sort of some final thoughts here. And uh so we'll I'm gonna give this one to you Brian first because I think this probably is a hard question for you considering that you love this special and you've watched it multiple times. What was your what's your favorite joke or bit in the entire thing?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:10

And actually so I'll combine both because so we've got my favorite joke uh of the special and my the most retellable joke are for me the same. Okay. In watching it again still fantastic special love it um but it's it's really hard to like have a retellable joke because they hit so fast and were relatable to the timeframe that they were in um with that but my favorite is always the invention of golf you know oh like croquet no we're gonna no I'm gonna put it hundreds of yards away oh like this no like bullying right no we're gonna give a flag for hope but there is no hope and just the Scottish accent that he is doing with it is a my favorite joke and B, it's the most retellable one even in just a snippet right um because I'll do that to to my wife from time to time she'll say something I was like I'll put a flag there for hope but there is no hope and you know and she she kind of knows what I'm referencing I've showed her just that clip before because she wouldn't watch the whole special um and so for me that's where those two are um is you know the invention of golf um and then is the most retellable and one of my favorite jokes.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:32

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:34

Nick you wanna sure um my favorite Joker bit was for me the most relatable and it's uh it was early on in the set probably part of his first 10 minutes is he he made mention of how it's his favorite time of year because this is the time of year when when the titties come out to play and no but so far no matter how old I get like there's this moment in spring when it dawns on me like oh okay like wow like like oh my gosh this is where where did all this stuff come from like I didn't know there were so many girls in the world let alone low cotton tops like this is crazy um it's like I'd forgotten. And then my most retellable because talking about titties isn't retellable um right is when he makes mention of being all over the place having traveled all over and having been to Memphis you know his impression of Memphis was that oh I didn't know Ray Charles got his deco license you know which which I relate to because I've two have been to Memphis and it's just weird off colors like it it's not yeah it's just weird.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:47

Yeah so I can relate and tell that one well I had um I had so it's my my so my this is it's not really my favorite joke in the but it was like this is one that was memorable to me for some reason. You don't have to play both sides BDC no it was exactly so no I I like that he was talking about and I it was it just like I think it it went back to when we were in that time and we're still looking for Osama bin Laden and he he made mention of like you know he's a six foot five Arab man on dialysis. How hard is he to find you know like I just I don't know why that strikes me as so funny but he's just like beep beep beep beep beep it just cracked me up you know um and then the I'd say my like I don't I don't know if this is retellable. I I'll say this my version of retellable is that I might be able to retell it to someone at some point not like in general you know not like hey I'm in the middle of a party or a room in a party and I can tell it to like a big group like mixed company um the the water bottle pee um and the facial expression that he was making just like it just like straining and straining and strain and it's just like you can see the strain on his face and the w and then the water bottle is just like dripping dripping a little bit of water out of it and it just like I forgot that it was a water bottle and thought like literally like because of his facial expression and the way he was holding it everything I just like was like sucked into the moment you know where I'm like crazy yeah exactly so anyway I thought that was uh like I said I will uh I'm more of a physical comedian myself though so you know like I I probably would do something like that you know here here's my challenge to you yeah you need to give a speech for you reinvent I will be there for that I will I've gotta I've gotta give a speech end of the month so I'm doing an icebreaker so that's a great one you know you'll definitely break the ice yeah exactly I mean and I mean definitely you'll pick that one over the gorilla one yeah yeah um do not go to phase two that's when that's when that would be what is one of the thumbs right well so um so and and then also just my final thoughts I just have to go back to like I counted I started writing down I stopped writing down in the middle but like um the the references to famous people and I was like I just started writing names down so I'm like okay so George W. Bush George H. W. Bush Mike Tyson Michael Jackson Osama bin Laden Sad Saddam Hussein and then I stopped writing after that but like he he made he made multiple references to so many different people and um I I don't know that was just sort of cool to me I I like the I I liked that it was um you know and then he almost did impressions of those people or at least I would say not he's not an impressionist but like you know doing like caricatures exactly what you said before so so anyway all right um all right so let's did have you guys done your math do you guys know your final score I forgot to do my math okay just like in the gym Brian just like in the gym you never you never add your stuff up how much did I lift uh what's 45 plus 45 plus 45 plus 10 plus 8 plus did I lift that did I make it through that round I don't know I don't know think of in the like 72 73 range I think right exactly so he wasn't the most changed or I forget what award you won exactly but what's Mr. Transformation Mr Transformation yeah it's just you put bigger numbers on your sheet exactly exactly right exactly I'm not BDC I didn't do what was your iron write down your 315 for a ding clean or something yeah right yeah exactly yeah no strict press strict yeah your strict press was 315 pound strict press yeah no no no that's not wow that's not for real that's not they they're they're they're making fun of me anyway um all right so Nick do you have your what's your tally what did you what'd you end up at?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:22

Uh 77 out of 100.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:25

Okay I'm at uh 80 point five I didn't think I was my numbers were that low I might have miscounted I might have missed a category you didn't tell me I was doing math today too yeah I know exactly you're like come on I thought I thought this is a comedy podcast not a math podcast it's last per minute like carry the one divide by six yeah well you're the one that introduced the decimals into your scoring like that is true that's that's okay that's fair well maybe that's what threw me off oh that's a 25 oh that's 2.5 not 25 okay that's yeah that's my fault you're like somehow I came out with 112 155 I think yeah that sounds that's yeah 255 well that's good like I said I'm I'm uh that's a good one to watch that's a good like I think uh definitely as you as you said at the beginning of this I mean Robin Williams is definitely a heavy hitter. I I mean I was honestly sad when when he uh when when he I would say passed away but you know when he took his own life um and uh I at the same time knowing some of the things not to bring this whole thing down but like knowing knowing what we know now I almost understand knowing what we know now you you kind of understand. Yeah yeah where you just go like okay I get I would get how you wouldn't want to live um with the disease that he had you know um because it was just he's gonna take everything away anyway so he just decided no I'm gonna take everything away right now and took it into his own hands so but you know like I said not not before making his mark on the world and doing all the I mean if if you look at his career it's just it's just incredible the amount of things and then not only that we don't even mention this but like you know he goes from this to being like an Oscar winning a like Oscar award winning actor for dramatic for dramatic yeah yeah so just incredible as a person and incredible at like you know bringing I will say as an artist you know just do doing bringing everything that he has to the things that he's doing so or things that he did.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:36

So uh well and I would say truly somebody that loved his craft all aspects of it so truly love the comedy aspect of it truly love the movie aspect of it and I think I think all around just truly like the engagement with people side of it no whether that was through screen or stand up or you know just being out and about.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:57

Well this this particular special got the Grammy for best spoken comedy album.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:02

Wow okay so he was close to he was close to getting like an e got you know um he was I don't know if he ever got an Emmy. He might have I mean he was on TV but I don't know I can't I didn't I didn't remember it yeah I highly doubt it so anyway and he he did nanu nanu nanu nanu yeah mork from orc all right well I think that about wraps it up thank you Brian for being here I appreciate uh you giving us some time and uh and talking about one of your favorites and uh for everyone out there we will we won't see you next time but you'll hear us next time thank you guys and it was fun cool see you tomorrow morning let's see you tomorrow morning bye